Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Casserole with Chicken & Quinoa

I knew my girlfriend Kim would be coming over for dinner tonight and I wanted to make either a soup or a casserole that involved black beans and the sweet potatoes I found that were really close to spoiling. After a brief discussion with her this morning, we decided that casserole was the way to go. I decided that I wanted there to be a grain running throughout this recipe and knew some quinoa cooked in beef broth would go nicely with the other components. If you can't find or don't like quinoa, use brown rice, barley or couscous.  To keep it light, I used cottage cheese that had been pureed with dried spices in lieu of shredded cheese. For the topping, I used the pre-shredded smoked cheeses from Trader Joe’s for convenience, but any kind of cheese you like would work. To make this recipe vegetarian, simply leave out the chicken or substitute caramelized onions and mushrooms and cook your quinoa in vegetable stock. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, hot sauce and fresh cilantro if you have it on hand.







What You Need:

½ - ¾ lb cubed or shredded cooked chicken - *see cook’s note
1 large sweet potato (any kind of potato would work here)
1 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ½ cups cooked quinoa (or any grain you like) cooked in broth (I used beef here)
1 – 16oz package frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of water
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 cup salsa verde (roasted tomatillo salsa – or any salsa you like)
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup shredded smoked cheese (or any cheese you like)
1 tsp 21 seasoning salute (or any salt free seasoning blend you like)




What To Do:


Preheat your oven to 350*.

Wash your sweet potato and pierce several times with a knife or fork. Microwave on high for 6-7 minutes or until a knife can be inserted easily. Cut potato into one inch pieces and set aside.

While the sweet potato cook’s, puree cottage cheese in a small food processor or blender with your salt free seasoning blend until smooth.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (except for the shredded cheese) and mix gently.
Pour the mixture into a large casserole dish coated with cooking spray and bake with a foil cover for 45 minutes to an hour. You’ll know it’s time to take the foil off when the casserole is bubbling at the edges.

Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.



*You could use shredded rotisserie or left over chicken here – I cubed my chicken and tossed with 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp 21 seasoning salute (or any salt free seasoning blend), ¼ tsp salt and pepper. Bake at 350* for 8 minutes.*

**Edited to add: makes 6 - 1.5c servings

Nutritional Stats for 1 Serving


















Print this recipe !

Bon Appetit!
Mary

10 comments:

Pam said...

Mmm. Looks and sounds really delicious.

MegSmith @ Cooking.In.College said...

I just found your blog and I am so glad I did! You have some awesome recipes (this one included, black beans and sweet potatoes were made for each other!) Your Wordless Wednesday was mesmerizing, it really brightened up my wintery day! I can't wait to see more posts :-)

Julie said...

this is amazing!!! it seriously has every delicious ingredient in the universe included haha!

The Healthy Hostess said...

YUM! Cant wait to make this for the family I cook dinner for! Great recipe!

What's Cookin' with Mary? said...

@Pam: Thank you!

@MegSmith: Well thank you for the complements and I'm glad you found my blog too ;)

@Julie: I was throwing this together for myself and my friend and when I got done I was like... this will be right up Julie's alley !!

@The Healthy Hostess: SWEET! Let me know what they thought of it. Def curious :)

Stephen said...

This looks really good. I really enjoy your site. My wife does not eat red meat and I am always looking for new ideas. My blog doesn't always feature the healthy but it is something I try to keep in mind

What's Cookin' with Mary? said...

@Stephen: Thank you! Glad you like my site... it's definitely full of red meat free recipes. Let me know if you try anything out. I would love to hear what you and your wife think.

The Healthy Hostess said...

That looks awesome! Thanks for the recipe!

Laura said...

This casserole sounds great, but I don't see Black beans in the ingredients or instructions. Am I crazy?

What's Cookin' with Mary? said...

@ Laura: Oh shoot! Adding that in now. How silly. It's even in the title!?